The Lazy Genius Podcast - #236 - 10 Things Saving My Life Right Now

Episode Date: November 15, 2021

Lots of people on the Internet love to share what’s saving their life, so do I, and so do you! Talking about some favorite things definitely has an ease that disagreeing with a partner doesn’t. Plus, y’all really love these episodes, so here’s one for the fall. I have ten things, some products, a hobby, a yogurt I can’t get enough of… all kinds of things. Let’s jump in. Stuff Mentioned Tell us how we’re doing at The Lazy Genius Collective via the 2021 Lazy Genius Survey. Submissions close Wednesday, November 17. Baggy, art-teacher-looking cotton linen overalls Kenra Clarifying Shampoo My IG post about actually being good at traveling despite saying I’m not good at it Laura Tremaine (Share Your Stuff, I’ll Go First) and Andy Baxter (Penny and Sparrow) Stephen King’s Different Seasons Elise Blaha Cripe on Instagram (@elisejoy) Owala water bottle (and here’s where you can find the charming and fun Courtney Cleveland) Episode #145: How to Hire a Housecleaner The Lazy Genius Kitchen releases March 22, 2022 (but you can preorder it and get bonuses now!) Download a transcript of this episode. This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon presents Laura versus Fruitflies. Swarming your fruit and terrorizing your kitchen, these little freaks multiply at a rate that would make a rabbit say, yo. Chill. But Laura shopped on Amazon and saved on cleaning spray, countertop wipes, and fly traps. Hey, fruit flies, your baby boom ends here. Save the Everyday with Amazon. Hi there. You're listening to the lazy genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 236. 10 things saving my life right now. This is a phrase. I think initially was coined by Barbara Brown Taylor, I think, but lots of people on the internet love to share what's saving their life. And so do I. And so do you. The first time I did one of these episodes, I was in a busy season. I needed an episode that was,

a little easier than usual. Talking about, you know, some favorite things, it definitely has an ease that say disagreeing with a partner doesn't topic-wise. But I did not anticipate the ridiculously high download numbers on that initial episode. Y'all really love these. So here is one for the fall. I have 10 things, some products, a hobby, a yogurt, I can't get enough of, all kinds of things. First, before I jump into that, I have a favor to ask you. I would be so grateful if you would fill out a survey for me. This audience is vast and varied and the best way we can know what kinds of episodes to make, where to travel for book launch events, and all the things is for you to tell us. We can guess to a point, but whenever we have survey results, they greatly impact our decisions

as a company. For example, we did a survey a couple years ago and one of the questions asked was for you to choose like only one thing that I make to the exclusion of all the others. What would you, what would you pick? What would you want me to keep? I honestly expected the answer to be Instagram that you would rather I stay on Instagram than make the podcast or write the newsletter or whatever else. And the results were overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the podcast. I'm talking like 75%. It was shocking, especially because I had been thinking about maybe stopping the podcast because I wasn't sure if y'all were like actually into it. That survey question immediately halted that line of thinking. And I was like, okay, we're going to keep making a podcast. So these surveys really play an

important role in what we do here. And it would be the best if you would fill it out. So there's a link in the show notes of this episode. And it should not take you more than like three minutes to fill out. It's really quick. Plus, there is a question where you can choose the three cities you'd be most willing to travel to for some kind of live event because like I said, we're starting to plan those for the release of the Lazy Genius Kitchen. I'm so excited about it. So, click the link in the show notes, fill out the survey, and we will actually randomly select a handful of people who fill it out to get a free product from our lazy genius store as a thank you. But to all of you, thank you. This information is so important and valuable, and so are you.

You are also important and valuable. Okay, so let's get into the episode. Ten things saving my life right now. Number one, cotton linen overalls. Okay, I'll put a link in the show notes, but I got two pairs of these like baggy art teacher looking overalls, one in Army Green and the other in black, and I've been wearing them ragged. Ragged. So I used to wear denim overalls like all the time in high school and college, but not in a cool way. You know, I was super dope trying to hide my body and my actual personhood from all who came in contact with me.

But the reason I kept wearing them is because one random day, my now husband causing. told me that I looked cute in overalls. And honey, you better believe I wore them almost every day after that that I could. I'm wearing overalls in my high school yearbook in so many photos from college. They were, they were part of my identity. Then I started wearing regular pants and the overalls left my life. Now, fast forward to almost 20 years later, and I'm back on team overall. These overalls are lightweight. They're cut really well. And they're $24 on Amazon. Now listen, They are not the most high quality or fashion forward clothing item. These overalls are like down the middle of the road.

You know, they're like workhorses, but I love them. And on days when I'm tired of the buttons on my pants, but I still have to go into the public sphere, these overalls save my life. I love them. I love them. Number two, clarifying shampoo. So I have been sharing my recent hair woes with you all on Instagram.

My hair's just so long. That's the problem. my hair is so, it's so long, it gets stuck in my armpit when I'm just living my life. Like, it's, it's time for a change. Now, at the time of this episode, I will not be able to get a haircut for another month still. And it's been, I mean, it's been almost a year since I've had it cut maybe longer. It's like dire over here. Now, part of the challenge is that I have very fine hair, but I have a lot of it.

That's one thing. Two, it is so heavy right now that it just hangs there. with no possible volume at the roots because there's just too much of it. And then three, I have to use so much product to try and get any lift. And I barely succeed. So because of all that product, my hair doesn't last quite as long between washes as it once did with just shampoo and conditioner because I'm just adding a lot more to my hair. Enter clarifying shampoo. Jamie Golden, my beauty guru for all of days, she encouraged me to try washing my hair twice, first. with clarifying shampoo and then with my regular shampoo. I use pros. I love it. This is not an ad.

They are a sponsor of this podcast and they might be an ad on this particular episode right now, but I genuinely, genuinely love pros. Now, when I started using clarifying shampoo, I had pretty low expectations. I didn't think it would matter much or make much of a difference. I was very wrong. I was very wrong. I still have, I still have a lot of fine hair. It is still hard for me to get any volume right now because of how long it is. But the clarifying shampoo has added another one to two days in between washes easily, easily. It helps me start from a cleaner baseline. And it just gets rid of all that product buildup that makes my hair look like you wipe chicken grease down the part. You know, it's not fun. So I use, I use Kenra clarifying shampoo and I love it.

I also love it's called Kenra, which is my name without the D. And it's what my mom and sister call me when they're trying to make me laugh and be sassy. They call me Canra. So anyway, number two is clarifying shampoo. Number three is honesty. Big pivot, but, you know, let's go. So I mentioned this in an Instagram post last week, but I have been noticing how I say that I'm not good at something

when it's not actually true. The example I gave last week was about travel. I've always said I'm not a good traveler, especially with like airplanes and rental cars and all the other adult stuff. I can drive my own car somewhere and I can get there in reasonable time with the help of the GPS system and like solid playlist. But I don't like traffic. I don't like airports. I've never gotten my own rental car before a month ago. Like I've never called for an Uber. I don't fully understand how people know on an airplane what drinks to order without asking

what the options are. I mean, last week one guy was like, he was like, can I have a ginger ale? And then other guy said, can I have an orange juice? And I was like, does the plane have every beverage? Like, how do people know what to order? It's, I don't know. All of that low-key anxiety lands in the sentence, I'm not good at traveling. But this last month, I traveled so much. Like, so many planes, multiple rental cars, trying to figure out how to return them and freaking out when I had to drive over those parking lot spikes for the first time. I was convinced I would pop a tire. I have eaten questionable airport food. I have eaten the Biskopf cookies offered to me by the flight attendant, not because I love Biscoff cookies, but because I ran from gate to gate and I didn't get a chance to eat anything.

And I needed to eat that cookie and drink that water because I was about to have a stomach that would eat itself. You know, I have been figuring out all the things, airport trains and how to walk on those moving walkways without like getting dizzy and throwing up. I'm figuring it out. But even after weeks of figuring it out, I was still saying, saying that I was not good at traveling. Says who? Like, and what does that even mean? What does that even mean? What am I imagining when I think about someone who is good at traveling? It's not me. That's for sure. But, like, maybe it should be. I mean, I've done great. I have navigated canceled flights and talkative seatmates. I have figured out that I need to eat my sadly cold

rice bowl from the airport concourse by a window and not in the crowd I sit at empty gates adjacent to my own gate until it's time from a plane to board so that I can have some space from all of the people I have driven in Atlanta traffic I have run through the Minneapolis airport

I have eaten a buffalo chicken wrap in three desperate bites in front of 200 people waiting to get on a plane I am a good traveler I don't have to love it or have an airplane pin on my sweater or whatever for that to be true. And the sooner I'm honest about the situation, the less stressed I'll feel when it's time to travel again. So number three is honesty. Number four is slightly connected to that. And it is scary entertainment stuff. I've always said I don't do scary. I've always said that. I don't like scary books. I don't like scary babies. I don't like scary shows.

But a lot of the books I read have a pretty high creepy factor. But because they weren't Stephen King, I didn't think they counted. Then I started reading Stephen King. Two of my friends, who you likely know, love Stephen King. I'm pretty sure their favorite author ever. I know for sure Laura Tremaine. Stephen King is her favorite author.

She wrote one of my favorite books last year. Share your stuff. I'll go first. But she loves Stephen King. And then the other person is Andy Baxter, who is half of my favorite band, Penny and Sparrow. They both wax poetic about Stephen King. But I've always,

I've always just dismissed the idea of reading Stephen King because, wait for it, I don't do scary scary stuff. But then Andy physically sent me a book of four Stephen King short stories and said, start with this. And so I did. And I am currently almost finished with the second story. And I'm, I'm loving it, like genuinely loving it. Then I started watching Midnight Mass on Netflix. And I binge that puppy like it was a pint of tonight. night dough when I'm on my period. Like I devoured that show. And it is legit scary. Jump scares, blood, creepy people in the dark, all the things that I quote don't do. But I did it. And I loved it. Like loved it, loved it. And I'm reading Stephen King at the same time. So number four on the

surface is scary entertainment stuff. Like that's saving my life. Partially because it's a good time. It's a good season for scary stuff. And I enjoyed it. But partially because I'm changing my mind. I like scary stuff. Maybe I always did, but for some reason I didn't say it. I don't know. But no matter. Here we are in November 2021. My name is Kendra. I like scary stuff. Number five is another thing that I always said I wasn't good at. Cross stitch. Now listen, cross stitch, it isn't that hard. Like when you follow a pattern, it's kind of like paint by numbers for adults. But I've always said I don't do crafts. I'm not good at things like knitting and crocheting and embroidery and anything that involves like thread and some kind of needle.

But based on what? I have never been shown how to do those things really. And I have in fact crocheted a scarf in my time. Now those are not hobbies you come out of the womb knowing how to do. You have to learn and then you practice. So my sweeping statement of I'm not good at crafts is incorrect. And it also kept me from trying cross stitch until this year. which makes me very sad because of how much I love it. It is one of the best things for me to slow down and be present. I started with a pattern from Elise Joy, who is, by the way, such a fun follow on Instagram. And even though I've been working on it slowly for months and months, it's been so fun and rewarding and good for my caffeinated squirrel brain. The last few months with

work for me have been bonkers, based on all the traveling information. And that combined with like a lot of crazy personal stuff, kids going back to school. You know, I had a huge renovation to help me build my office, lots more. I have needed something to ground and center me. And cross-stitching has really done that. And I love it. I love it so much. We'll be right back. It's something else here now. Something new. From exclusively on Paramount Plus, it's the series Stephen King calls Scarious Hell. Everything here is impossible. But it's also real. Sci-Fi vision calls it the best show streaming right now.

We're running out of time and we still don't know the rules. Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch. Saving those children is how we all go home. From Binge All Episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. Aw isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life. Whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art. I'm Dacher Keltner, host of The Science of Happiness,

podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. The number six thing that's saving my life right now is the Oala water bottle. So I'm very skeptical when someone says this is the best one of this thing, especially for something regular like a water bottle. I mean like, I don't know, how great can a water bottle? I don't know. How great can a water bottle actually be. Aren't they all pretty much the same? No, no friends. They are not. So I first heard about the Oala water bottle from Courtney Cleveland of all the best days. She's been a guest on the podcast before. And even though she has excellent tips and taste about

things, especially in the travel space, I just thought her enthusiasm about this water bottle was just because Courtney's like a generally very enthusiastic person. But then two women on my team, Leslie and Latoya, got the water bottle. And And they sung its praises too. And so I was like, okay, fine, I'll try it. You guys, I don't understand it, but everyone is right. This water bottle is the best. It's the best.

It's so good. Weirdly, you're so surprised by like, why is this water bottle so amazing? Now, the reason it's saving my life is because it works, which is great. Yay, hydration. But because it works so well and it's so easy and, dare I say delightful to drink from, and because it doesn't leak, it fits. in my cup holders in my car. I can throw it in my purse. It looks really good. Like all of those things combined mean that I'm drinking water more easily and more often. It's just an excellent water bottle.

It's even in our lazy genius gift guide. That's how much we love it. Okay. So that's number six. Number seven, a house cleaner. Now I've talked about this before. I even have an episode on how to hire a house cleaner. And obviously being able to hire someone to clean your home regularly is not something everyone can do. I acknowledge this. However, I think almost without question, there are things in our lives that we could outsource or delegate, but we don't because of fairly unimportant reasons. There is a lot of stigma around paying someone to do something that you can do yourself. We've talked about that before too. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to. Can you make your own yogurt? Sure. Anybody can. Do you have to just because you

can. No. Now, do you love making your own yogurt? Does your family, like, I don't know, eat so much yogurt and you're trying to cut costs so making your own is actually a really great choice, then go for it. But just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to. It doesn't mean you should. We are lazy geniuses. We cannot be geniuses at everything. You cannot do it all. Under no circumstances can you do it all. You have to choose what matters to you. doing this work for me doing this work matters more to me than cleaning my own house spending my weekends doing maybe like 45 minutes of upkeep chores with the whole family and then being able to just hang out and have fun that matters to me more than all of us

cleaning the entire house ourselves all the time our rhythm is for a house cleaner to come she comes every other Monday she cleans the entire house beautiful hopefully gives us the shiniest reset. And then on Saturday mornings, every Saturday, after my kids have their Calvin Saturday, I've mentioned this before, but for those of you who are new, that's just what they call watching TV on Saturdays because that's what Calvin does in the Calvin and Hobbs comics. It's the cutest thing that they call it Calvin Saturday. But after that, we all do just like a little upkeep chores together. It helps me let loose on my kids not perfectly cleaning things because they are not the last stop on the cleaning train. You know, it does not depend on them. The state of the toilets

does not depend on my children. So if they don't clean something like the exact way I would, it's okay because I know that our house cleaner will tend to it the way that she always so graciously does. So having other people do things that I don't love doing, it always, always saves my life. And I want you to think a little bit about how you might be able to delegate or outsource something to. Number eight. Nusa lemon yogurt. Okay, Nusa yogurt is like the Bentley of yogurts. It is so good. It is delightful. It's creamy. It's bright. I love it. I love the strawberry rhubarb flavor. I love the blueberry flavor. But the lemon yogurt has been a huge lifesaver for me in all kinds of meals. Because

the yogurt is lemon, it feels bright and filling and kind of special on its own. I can eat it plain. I can eat it with granola or berries. And it's great for breakfast. It's great for a quick lunch when I forgot to make lunch. It's great for a snack at night when my body is like, hey, what's up, y'all? We want some, you know, some like sweet dairy situation, but we need to hold off on the ice cream until tomorrow. Like, we've hit our limit. It is one of those like just little magic foods in my fridge that works for lots of things at lots of times. It makes me happy every single time. I just love it so much. Nusa, N-O-O-S-A. I love Nusa lemon, yogurt. the number nine thing that's saving my life is a creative project that has nothing to do with work.

Okay, I don't know if you realize this, but it's been a hard season the last year or two. Okay, you didn't know that, did you? But one thing that I have noticed during this time for me personally is how things have become very repetitive and a little sad. We are obviously experiencing people in relationships more close. than we were this time last year. But everything still feels like a bit stopgapped. You know, everything fun is tempered with some level of anxiety. And because we're in the fall, routines are pretty strong right now. You know, there's not a lot that's new and even less stuff

that's fun. You know, we might get that a little bit more when we get further into the holidays. But that is why my number nine is a non-work project. So I think I've mentioned this before, but my church does a non-traditional Lessons and Carols service every December. Lessons and Carols is a super traditional concept that's been around for a long time, where you walk through the story of Jesus, starting in the Old Testament, really, and you alternate scripture readings or lessons with a Christmas carol. So it's like, lesson, carol, lesson, carol. And the people at my church are like, annoyingly creative and talented.

And we do a similar structure, Lesson Carol, Lesson Carol, Lesson Carol, but more artfully presented with a theme and visual art and amazing music. It's truly in my top three nights of the whole year. I just love it. Anyway, I have had the privilege of being part of the planning of our Lessons and Carol service for the last few years. And planning and brainstorming and creativity has recently been picking up steam in my head with this project. And y'all, it is giving me so much life. Being on a team, uh, 10. to and planning for this thing that I love so much, creating an experience for people that matters. It's like, it's so motivating for me. Plus, it's music and art and beauty and I'm a sucker for those things. Now, I share that not to be like, you should plan a Christmas service too,

but more to name what I didn't see until I was deep into it. Sometimes we need something outside of our regular lives to get excited about, to invest in, to exercise, to exercise, our creativity in. It doesn't have to be a service like this. It could be anything. But the creativity and teamwork and lack of being in complete charge like I'm at work is what has been so life-giving. Not everything I share here has to be duplicated by you, but this one just feels really, I'm just sharing you what's saving my life. And this one is. It's deeply important. So that's why I'm naming it here on this episode. And then number 10 is anticipation. Anticipation is saving life right now. So we have, like I said already, we've been through a very long season of not having

much to look forward to. And let's just call that what it is. It's like a huge bummer, you know? I would I would use different words if we were together, except I know a lot of you listen with your like sweet tiny children and I will not use those words. But there has not been a lot to anticipate, right, other than generally apocalyptic things. But that's, is hopefully starting to shift a little bit, which is fun. We've been, you know, we've been planning a book tour for the Lazy Genius Kitchen next spring. And I am loving like every single bit of this planning. I am naming what matters to me, fun and people I love. And I'm trying to plan book tour stops alongside like super fun personal treats like concerts and plays and eating meals with friends I never get

to see. I'm really excited about what's coming. and I didn't realize how long it's been since that's been the case. I am not trying to dismiss the genuine concerns of COVID right now. My family all just got it a couple months ago. Like we will keep being cautious. We will keep paying attention. We will hold our plans loosely. I understand that.

But I'm also going to enjoy the dreaming and planning and excitement of what I get to look forward to and hope it happens. Tiny things, big things, once in a lifetime things. All of it counts. and is worth anticipating. And for what it's worth, if you are like me, like I've never really been an anticipator. I am too worried I'll be deeply disappointed. So I don't usually have expectations. I try not to look forward to events as much as possible. That's kind of the dark side of my enneagram one talking. This is where I am very grateful for the line I share with a seven. And I'm

embracing and enjoying anticipation in ways I have not before. And it's just so fun. It's so incredibly fun. So the final thing that's saving my life right now is anticipation. If you would like to share one or 10 things or whatever in your life, why don't you tag me? I would hopefully I'll see it. But even if you don't tag me and even if I don't see it, it's always a really lovely practice to name what's bringing you life, what's making you happy. was helping you enjoy your days a little bit more than usual. So thanks for listening to my list. Okay, before we go, let's celebrate the lazy genius of the week. This week it's Amber, whose last name I don't know, which is the worst Amber. I'm so sorry. But here's what Amber

wrote. Dear Kendra, someday I will write you the longest letter about how you have influenced, changed, and saved my life. Thank you, Amber. But for now, I just have to share how I have lazy genius my closet. I also separate my clothes by spring, summer. and fall and winter like you have. Side note, I mentioned that on Instagram. We're working on an episode about capsule wardrobes is fine. But I set up a clothing matrix, obviously got this from your meal matrix idea. I have all my bottoms together, all tops together, all jackets and blazers together, and all shoes together. I select from the very front of each of these four categories in that order, pants, tops, jacket, shoes. If my next in line shirt doesn't match with my pants option that day,

I go on to the very next one that does match. I repeat with each of the remaining category options. After wearing and washing my clothes, they go back to the back of the line. I have not had to make an outfit choice since I started this over a year ago. I love the laziness of it, and I'm often surprised by interesting combinations that I would never have chosen intentionally. I love being a lazy genius and applying principles to absolutely everything. Thank you for all you do for this community. Love Amber.

Amber. Okay, so I love this because it is so clear that Amber has chosen what matters to her. Ease in her outfits without having to think too hard. And I love, love, like the accidental combinations that come from this approach, even though it's essentially automated. It's just so fun. Now, obviously, it wouldn't work for everyone, this idea, because nothing does. Nothing works for everyone. But I love Amber that this works for you and would probably actually work for a lot of people once they hear it. So I'm excited to share. So thank you, Amber, for sharing them. and for being this episode's lazy genius of the week. Okay, y'all, that's it for today.

Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to check out the lazy genius survey to help us know how we can best help you in your lazy genius life. And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. I'm Kendra. I'll see you next week. If you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life,

it's so dangerous to live that, more dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life because when you're living a B or B You don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.